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Monotheism is a religious belief which acknowledges one transcendent and personal God who is distinct from the world and superior to it. One may believe that there exists only one God and reject the existence of other gods (exclusive or prophetic monotheism). One may believe that there are many gods but accept that only worship of one God is appropriate and legitimate (different terms like relative monotheism, potential monotheism (F.W.J.Schelling, Schelling 1927), or insular monotheism (Adrianus van Selms, Van Selms 1973) are used to describe this kind of monotheism) (Van Selms 1973; Schelling 1927). The notion of monotheism is closely related to the notion of the Supreme Being, which was developed in the eighteenth century religious studies and emphasized the ability of primitive/preliterate peoples to construe one single God. Monotheism is a controversial notion used for theological, ideological, and metaphorical goals. It has to be...
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Leitane, I. (2013). Monotheism. In: Runehov, A.L.C., Oviedo, L. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8265-8_724
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